EC2 ubuntu AMI ssh password default without key

Question

I have a problem getting past the prompt after setting my first EC2 instance. The ubuntu LTS AMI supposed has ubuntu as the default user name. I set up the instance without keypairs when asked during the classic wizard. regular password authentication is my only choice. I can't get the AMI to even prompt me for a password.

Also I don't know the default password for the ubuntu user and I can't find it anywhere. HELP please!

Solution

There is no password for the ubuntu user on the official Ubuntu AMIs. You can not ssh in with a password. You must associate an ssh keypair name when you start the instance if you want to ssh in to the instance.

Since you have not done anything important on the instance, I agree with @Christopher that you should terminate it and start a new instance with an ssh keypair. I recommend using your own ssh keypair instead of having EC2 generate a different one in each region. Here's an article I wrote that describes how to do that: http://alestic.com/2010/10/ec2-ssh-keys

If you had done important things on the EC2 instance and had lost ssh access, you can re-gain control by editing files on the EBS volume while it is attached to a different EC2 instance. Here's an article I wrote about that process: http://alestic.com/2011/02/ec2-fix-ebs-root

Comments

[Christopher]

Why not just tear it down and build a new one with keypairs? If you can't reach it at all, it's not like there was any time wasted on configuring it...

[Admin]

But what is the password of the ubuntu user?